


No Excuses

by toad_in_the_road



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Sickfic, Slight religious trauma, for flavor, im gay, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27531112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toad_in_the_road/pseuds/toad_in_the_road
Summary: Eugene Fitzherbert really, really thought he outgrew migraines.He was wrong, of course.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Lance Strongbow, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 120





	No Excuses

**Author's Note:**

> my mom has awful migraines that knock her out for like a full day, and i remember growing up terrified i would inherit that. i didn't, thank god. i just get stress headaches, which suck but are nothing compared to a migraine  
> i did get her anxiety tho!!!!

Eugene would have groaned, but the taste of bile in his mouth was too strong, so he merely burrowed himself deeper into the scratchy covers. It wasn’t much, but they gave him some shielding from the bright morning sun, even at the sacrifice of being able to breathe easily. 

“Eugene?” Arnwaldo’s voice seemed impossibly loud, and Eugene winced again, trying not to whimper.

“Eugene, come on, we’re gonna get in trouble-oh.” His friend paused, and Eugene could imagine his face filled with pity. He hated the idea of pity, but just thinking about sitting up made him dizzy. “Is it another one of your headaches?”

“Yeah.” Eugene managed to say. He could smell something burning-probably Sister Elizabeth’s poor excuse for breakfast-and his stomach revolted. He gagged, relieved for once that he had missed dinner as punishment for picking fights. There wasn’t anything to puke up. 

“Ah, great,” Arnwaldo said, his voice quieter now. “They’re gonna be mad at you. But…” Eugene could hear a mischievous smile in his friend’s voice. “Maybe they’d let you be if they heard you were covered in really gross, probably contagious rashes.”

Eugene managed to smile slightly. “Oh, woe is me. Good thing I’ll make a miraculous recovery by tomorrow.”

Arwaldo chuckled, and then tched. “Are you sure it’ll be that fast? The last one was nearly two days.”

“That was an outlier,” Eugene argued. “I’ll be fine. Or at least better.” He bit his lip when the left side of his head suddenly pulsed in new pain. “Just...lie for me? Please?”

“Oh, fine,” Arnwaldo sighed, and Eugene heard his footsteps leaving the shared room of the orphanage. “But you owe me.”

“Thanks.” Eugene said, and closed his eyes, trying to block out the too loud, too bright, too _everything_ world and focus on his breathing as opposed to the throbbing of his head that beat horribly out of rhythm with his heart.

He got some peace, and was just starting to drift off back to sleep again when the door to the room suddenly opened with a slam, and Eugene flinched. “What’s the meaning of this?!” A sharp voice snapped.

“H-hi, Sister Imogen,” Eugene said shakily, tensing himself. “I dunno if you heard, but I’m extremely rashy and probably dying so-AH!”

He should have expected it, but jumped nevertheless when the old nun ripped the smelly blanket off of him, exposing him to the bright sun in all its awful glory. The pain suddenly spiked to a new height he never imagined possibly, and he cried out again, feeling nausea churn in his stomach. Tears sprung to his eyes before he could stop it.

“Yes, an awful rash,” Sister Imogen said dryly, and her normally shrill voice was only amplified. “Now come on, you’ve got chores.”

“Okay…” Eugene forced himself to gasp, squeezing his eyes shut. “I-I was lying about the rash-”

“You mean you got Arnwaldo to lie for you.” Sister Imogen scolded. 

“Y-yeah, but I...I have a headache.” Eugene said weakly.

“Boohoo,” Sister Imogen scoffed. “It’s probably divine payback for all the headaches you’ve given me.”

“No, I...it’s really bad. Like, really bad. I-I feel sick, and light is only making it worse-please, Sister Imogen, I’ll do double chores when it’s gone. Triple, even! Just...I’m begging you, please let me rest.” He hated how tremulous his voice was, how he had resorted to pleading. But the thought of facing the constant loudness of the orphanage, of facing the sun...it was nearly enough to make him cry.

He heard Sister Imogen sigh deeply, as though he had gotten into trouble once again and she would have to be the one to clean up after him once again. “Eugene,” She said. “This is quite disappointing.”

Eugene was quiet.

“You know as well as I do that we need everyone to keep this place running smoothly,” Sister Imogen said quietly, her iron voice covered with a thin layer of kindness. “You’re a smart boy. I know you noticed that things are getting tight.”

He had. Steadily, almost too slowly to notice, the orphanage was beginning to decline. It was in tiny ways-food was watered down only slightly, new toys had stopped coming in, and the bookshelf became more worn battered. The thing that set off Eugene’s alarm bells was when Sammy and Jack had been playing together and Jack’s foot went through the floor, revealing a spongy wooden foundation that was collapsing under its own weight from termites.

Jack was alright, save for being rather rattled by the incident, but the adults had not called in someone to fix it. They had pursed their lips and looked worried, and drew a large circle in chalk around the area and advised the children not to go near it.

“So what?” Eugene asked, trying to block out the nervousness with what the adults called ‘an attitude problem’.

“So the king is pooling more money into ending crime in Corona,” Sister Imogen said curtly. “It will be tough, but we’ll make it through. God helps those who help themselves. We all have to pull our weight. No excuses.”

Eugene was quiet, his heart hammering. The orphanage was already overcrowded. It seemed like new people arrived everyday, and it wasn’t like the building was large to begin with. How long before another floorboard gave out? Before the food became more water than substance? Before some fever or ailment swept through, and the best option was to pray fruitlessly that the living outweighed the dead when it was over?

“Eugene? Did you hear me?”

Another wave of pain went through Eugene’s head, but he took a breath, forcing himself to ignore it. “Yeah,” He said, starting to sit up, dizzy and nauseous. “No excuses.”

*** *** ***

Eugene woke feeling oddly exhausted, and frowned slightly. He heard rustling, and cracked his eyes open to see Rapunzel digging through a drawer. 

“Hey.” He said, mouth slightly dry. He sat up and winced slightly. He felt stiff. Must’ve slept in a funny position. 

Rapunzel jumped, whirling around, and Eugene laughed. “Forget I was here?”

“You startled me,” Rapunzel frowned. “And I was so quiet…”

“Eh, I’m a light sleeper.”

“You are _not_. You sleep like the dead. You snore too.”

“Wha-I do not!”

Rapunzel hummed, not bothering to give him a response, and Eugene scowled. “My own wife.” He said, feeling giddy at the new title. It had been over two months since they had been married, and he had yet to tire of it.

Rapunzel smiled. “The truth hurts. Anyway, did you see that trade treaty draft? The one with Koto I was working on?”

“The one in your hand?” Eugene asked lightly, standing up and trying to stretch away the stiffness. It didn’t work.

Rapunzel blinked, and noticed she was clutching several pieces of paper in her right fist. She frowned, and Eugene laughed. “Hey, you got on me about snoring-which I don’t do, by the way.”

“Whatever you want to believe,” She went up to him, going on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “While you’re up early, go see Varian. He’s been working on something for the guard, and you know he’s just dying to show you.”

“Don’t work too hard.” He said, and Rapunzel smiled, rushing out to start her day with a quick ‘I love you!’

The stiffness didn’t go away, and he avoided turning his neck as he made his way to the room on the lower levels of the castle that Varian had claimed as an extra lab. He only felt more exhausted as he went along, like the energy was leaking out of him just by existing.

He ducked into the lab and winced at the nearly overpowering smell of...well, he couldn’t quite place it, but it was burning and harsh, and made his eyes water and stomach turn. “Kid?” He called out, moving his shirt up slightly to cover his nose. “You in here?”

“Oh, hey Eugene!” A kid wearing oversized goggles popped out from behind several glass beakers, grinning. “What’s up?”

“What died in here? It smells awful.” Eugene said.

“It’s not that bad,” Varian shook his head, removing his goggles. “A bit strong, yeah, but…”

“Anyway, Rapunzel said you had something to show me.” Eugene said, eager to get this over with so he could leave.

“Right!” Varian gestured grandly. “So, you know those chemical balls I make? The ones that explode and cover you in that sticky gel? Well, I was modifying the mini-cannon-”

Varian began talking rapidly, but Eugene was no longer paying attention, focused on an area of a table, confused.

There was a spot where the air was...wiggly. Like a translucent worm was squirming around inside his eye, blurring his vision ever so slightly. He blinked, and the blurriness didn’t disappear, only following when he looked elsewhere. He rubbed his eyes, and they stung slightly-

_Oh no. Oh no no no._

His heart skipped a beat, and it took everything in him not to turn around and leave. He hadn’t had one of these headaches since he was a teenager, but thinking about it made him shudder. The vision issues were always the indicator that trouble was on the horizon; pretty soon the space behind his left eye would start to throb, and then it would spread to encompass the rest of the left side of his head, and leave him flinching at every sound and light for hours, nauseous and dizzy.

_We all have to pull our weight. No excuses._

“Eugene?” He blinked, seeing Varian staring at him, concerned. The kid was slightly blurred. “Are you okay?”

He had so many more responsibilities now, and he couldn’t afford to sulk off and hide. Too many people were counting on him. _Rapunzel_ was counting on him. He had powered through headaches before, and he would do it again.

_No excuses._

“Yeah, sorry,” Eugene forced himself to smile, even as he felt the first pinpricks of pain begin to build, like a drizzle before a storm. “You were saying?”

*** *** ***

The drizzle didn’t turn to a storm. It turned to a monsoon.

The headache swallowed him up entirely, not just the left side of his head like it used to. It throbbed steadily, out of rhythm with his heart and overpowering it. The sunlight cheerfully streaming through the windows felt like knives, and he was fairly certain he could hear everything going on in the castle, and it was horribly loud. He could smell the horrible cleaning solution they used to scrub the decorative armor so strongly his nose burned. Everything had been turned up to an eleven, and it made his empty stomach curl horrible with nausea.

It was like the pain was trying to make up for years of missing out. It was constant and overwhelming, where usually it came in waves so he could have a moment to collect himself. He was barely halfway through the day, and there was a steady ring building up in his ears. 

Something grabbed his arm, and he jerked back roughly, startled. Rapunzel stepped back, looking surprised by his reaction. Eugene felt his face go red. “Sunshine!” He said, barely biting back a wince at his own voice. “Sorry, you...you startled me.” He focused on each word, careful not to let himself slur.

“Are you alright?” Rapunzel asked, and even her voice, gentle and kind, hurt him more. “You look awful.”

“First you accuse me of snoring, and now this?” Eugene smiled, but it felt like a grimace.

Rapunzel didn’t smile, staring at him as if trying to discern his motives. Pascal made a little growling noise, just as suspicious. “I’m alright,” Eugene lied. “I have a little headache, but it’s fine.”

Rapunzel’s eyes went wide, and for a moment Eugene didn’t understand why. That is, until he realized she was speaking frantically to him but he couldn’t hear her over the roar in his ears. He was falling back, and he flailed when he realized this, knocking clumsily into a decorative piece of armor. It clattered loudly to the ground, the bleach smell making his eyes water, and he gasped.

Rapunzel grabbed his arm again, keeping him from going down, and black spots danced before his eyes. He felt humiliated, and forced himself to take a deep breath.

The roar in his ears finally subsided, and he heard Rapunzel’s scared voice hitting his ears like needles. “-okay?! And don’t say you’re fine, because you’re very clearly not. Did something happen? Are you sick? Are-”

“Rapunzel,” He managed to gasp. “You...it’s very loud.”

He winced at his poor phrasing, and opened his mouth to apologize profusely, but Rapunzel spoke first, her voice far softer. “Are you having a migraine?”

Eugene was quiet, and Rapunzel hummed, taking it as an answer. “Eugene…”

“I’m alright,” Eugene said, managing to stand. “I’ll get through it. There’s too much to do.”

“And you won’t be able to do any of it like this,” Rapunzel took his arm gently, starting to yank him back towards their room. “Come on, let’s go back to our room.”

“I’m _fine_.” Eugene said, jerking away. Pascal squeaked in protest, but Eugene ignored him. “I’ve powered through stuff like this before, and I can do it again.”

“I just watched you pass out!” Rapunzel said.

“I did not,” Eugene said fervently. “I-okay, I almost did, I’ll give you that, but I didn’t.”

“You’re gonna make it worse and longer if you do this.” Rapunzel said.

“We all have to pull our weight,” Eugene said, blinking when he realized he was echoing someone else. “No excuses.”

Rapunzel blinked, looking surprised. After a moment, she slowly took his hands, pursing her lips in the way she did whenever he unwittingly said something that worried her. It happened more often than he would like to admit. 

“You don’t have anything to prove, you know,” She said softly. “Not to me, or anyone.”

Eugene didn’t say a word.

“Will you go rest until you feel better?” Rapunzel asked. “Please? For me?”

“The ‘for me’ was low,” Eugene smiled weakly, but then let out a long breath. “...fine.”

Rapunzel looked relieved, looping her arm through his and starting to lead him back to their room. “I can get there myself. You go back to your treaty.” Eugene said.

“It can wait.” Rapunzel shrugged, ignoring his weak protests.

Eugene shut his eyes to block out the sunlight, letting Rapunzel lead him back, focusing on not throwing up. That would be both embarrassing and rather rude of him. 

Every single cell in his body was screaming at him to go back, to not let this silly little headache get the best of him. He couldn’t afford to indulge himself in his own pain. He was captain of the guard, for God’s sake. 

But when Rapunzel closed the blinds to their room, and it was finally dark, he had to admit it was hard to pass this up. 

“I shouldn’t be leaving you alone.” Eugene said, despite collapsing onto the bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes.

“Just rest.” Rapunzel scolded lightly.

“But-”

“No.”

Eugene scowled, and then winced when another pulse of pain distracted him. Rapunzel noticed, and sat next to him, taking his hand again. Her voice was quiet.

“I told you that you don’t have anything to prove,” She said softly. “It’s not an excuse, or whatever, if you’re in pain.”

Eugene was quiet.

“Just promise me you’ll rest until you’re better,” Rapunzel said. “Okay?”

Eugene was quiet for a long moment, and then slowly sighed. “Okay.”  
“Promise,” Rapunzel said. “Say it out loud.”

“I promise I’ll rest until I’m better,” Eugene managed to crane his neck to look at her. “I love you.”

She smiled. “I love you too.”

And in spite of everything, that made the pain better. Not perfect, but better.

And better was just fine by Eugene.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on my tumblr!  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/toadintheroad


End file.
